Focus on deliverables, in order to meet project timelines and budgetary constraints.

To work with integrity and diligence, ensuring the provision of a reputable service.

Comply with statutory requirements to protect customers, end users and the public.

Projects

Effective Engineering Solutions

Rapid Armor bin liner mounting system

Mining Productivity

Graven Designs supported Rapid Armor with analysis work, as well as the quantification and validation of load cases in order to prove the designs suitability for the application. A number of design cycles were undertaken to reach a more effective design solution.

Composite Rollbar development

Automotive Safety

Finite Element Analysis showed that the original rollbar design did not comply with regulations. Further design and analysis work resulted in a suitable modification that was successfully implemented in time for shipping.

Custom Load Cell Development

Time and Cost Saving

Due to a delay in commercial load cell delivery, Graven Designs undertook in house load cell development in order to save the project timeline. The custom load cells were produced at 67% of the commercial load cell cost and testing proceeded as planned.

Latest News

As Graven Designs celebrated the milestone of our first year in business, it was fitting that we were represented at this year’s Electra Mining Expo in Johannesburg, South Africa. The video below was especially prepared in order to promote our services to the Engineering Sector. Working Together with Rapid Armor A lot of interest was shown in the new Rapid Armor liner[…]

Rotor Stands When not in operation, or during the completion of maintenance work, a turbine rotor is typically supported by stands at each end. The video below shows an analysis of a turbine rotor on its supporting stands. The analysis of the assembly is used to evaluate the strength of the supports whilst considering the effect[…]

Survivability As an essential part of a competitive solar powered car, the rollbar ensures the safety of the driver in the event of the car overturning. The video below shows the analysis of a composite rollbar with a specific requirement to withstand a 5G longitudinal loading applied to the top of the rollbar. Stiffeners were added to the rear of the[…]

Automotive Analysis The video below shows the plastic buckling of a steering rod. The example illustrates how advanced engineering analysis is used to predict the buckling of the steering rod under severe wheel toe-in conditions, as may occur when driving into an obstacle. This approach was used, together with multi body dynamics, to show that typical design and[…]

by Vaughan Thomson ANALYSIS The video below shows an analysis on a mining bin hopper carrying bulk material. The bulk material exerts a normal pressure and shear force (via friction) on the sides of the bin. As more material is loaded into the bin, it can be seen how the deformation and stress levels increase.[…]

Rail Application The video below shows the results of an impact analysis performed on a railway buffer stop. The analysis example demonstrates the capability of Graven Designs to solve complex engineering problems, particularly in the design of products for the Rail Industry. For geometry source files visit: Railway Buffer Stop

Implicit Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis by Vaughan Thomson The video below shows a dynamic simulation of a rock striking a steel plate, completed using Midas NFX Finite Element Analysis software. Stress waves can be seen propagating through the plate and supporting bolts, with the extracted graph synchronised to the stress animation using MATLAB software.

With Team UKZN and Hulamin by Vaughan Thomson In October of 2015 I had the great privilege of being invited by the University of KwaZulu-Natal Solar Car Team to join them and their car, Hulamin, at the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia. Having past experience with composite materials (in the areas of design, testing,[…]